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In this week’s edition of Blue Jays mailbag, Richard Griffin answers questions on how the 2013 team would have fared without the blockbuster offseason trades and the hiring decisions by management.

Left field umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis (R) signals a two-run home run by New York Yankees hitter Alex Rodriguez after a video review in the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of the 2009 Major League Baseball World Series in Philadelphia, October 31, 2009. The ball hit a television camera and bounced back onto the field. (MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS FILE PHOTO)

The most surprising off-field baseball news this week was the shocking MLB proposal, mid-week, emerging from an ownership meeting, a game-changing decision to add instant replay for all plays except balls and strikes. It seems that starting in 2014 will give managers a red beanbag, or its equivalent, so that angry skippers can heave projectiles onto the field to stop the game and demand a video review of any play — except balls and strikes — thus delaying the game even more than it already is. One challenge from innings 1-6 and two more in late innings and extra. Win an appeal and you get another one. Great! The proposal merely needs owners and players association approval.

Hey maybe if umpire Jim Joyce had actually been hit in the head by a Jim Leyland delivered beanbag a couple of years ago, then Tigers starter Armando Galarraga would have had his disputed perfect game. But then again, the feel-good story of friendship and redemption, the humanity of Galarraga’s forgiveness and Joyce’s angst would not have touched us all. The next step is laser beam strike zones and the game will be changed for the worse. God bless the frailties of human judgment and the interesting interactions between players, managers and umpires. It’s part of baseball’s unique mosaic. Game-changing decisions will soon be made by nameless, faceless arbitrators in a boardroom in New York like the NHL does with Toronto to confirm goals. Just let them play ball. On to the Mailbag.

Q. Hi Richard,

This might be one of those pointless ‘what if’ questions (and I’ll get hammered by DJF I’m sure), but I’m curious to get your opinion on what the state and future of the Jays might have been if the Florida and Dickey trades had not been made in the off season. There would have been some tinkering with the lineup of course, but would we have been in a better position going into 2014 if they had never happened? I was really buying into the build for the future concept, but also bought into the trades.

Rob Brander, Sydney, Australia

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A. As I recall, after the World Series last year there were not many Jays fans buying into the hopeful post-73-win “build for the future” concept that existed mid-November. There was a growing groundswell at the time, a virtual revolt of fans believing Jays ownership was intentionally cheap and would never spend in order to bring a winner back to Canada. The Marlins trade, as it unfolded and grew in scope that November night to include Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle was roundly, almost universally praised among Jays fans. After all, that was what minor-league inventory was for wasn’t it? To help accumulate players for the major-league team. But then when AA continued to ship out key prospects in the Mets deal — Travis D’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard — some fans began to get nervous about the future of the organization’s farm system. The upper levels have indeed suffered this year. What would the Jays roster have looked like without the Marlins and Mets trade? The ’12 Jays was a team that won just 73 games. If they had not gone all in, one certainty is that attendance for that returning team would not have risen to the level it has this year. Here is a look at a partial 2013 team had the Jays not made those two huge trades.

Manager: Another certainty is that the Jays would not have been able to hire John Gibbons without the Marlins and Mets trades. They would have been forced to sell a name manager to the fan base. But when AA loaded up the roster, he was able to hire a man he felt he could easily work with. Fans bought in.

This team is built mainly based on trades (and a couple of lucky pickups in Bautista and Encarnacion). Besides Arencibia and Lind, no one else on the field is developed from our farm. This tells me two things: 1. Our farm is so over-rated, AA took advantage of it and turn our farm into stars (Reyes, Dickey), which means our farm isn’t really that good, and; 2. We can’t develop anyone or scout properly. I am trying to think of an all-Jays team, and members of this team must be drafted and/or developed by the franchise since Day 1, and have decent contribution to the franchise (i.e., reasonable stats for 2-3 years with the franchise). Here is what I have:

1B: McGriff, Delgado

2B: ? (maybe Hill)

SS: Fernandez

3B: Gruber, Sprague

C: Borders, Whitt

OF: Bell, Moseby, Green, Wells

P: Hentgen, Halladay, Stieb, Guzman, Key

Am I out of my mind in trying to come up with such a team? It feels like ever since Wells left, we really had nobody from our scouts. I understand part of it has to do with Riccardi destroying our scouting department, but is it this bad? I feel after this three-year competing window, we will be so pathetic again for an extended period of time . . .

No need to be overly concerned about 2016 and beyond. These things take care of themselves. After this three-year window with the veteran players in which the Jays hope to reach the post-season, some of the lower level prospects left over after the trades of last winter should have developed to the point that the next generation of Blue Jay home-growns will have us talking . . . or complaining. But there will be names thast we’re not even talking about right now. Life goes on and so does baseball.

Q. Richard,

Why do the Jays’ managers when fired, find no other jobs managing in MLB? Cito could not get a job elsewhere. Gibbons was managing beer league in Texas. Only the much-maligned John Farrell seems capable of gaining employment elsewhere. Maybe it’s time that the Jays consider hiring a major league manager. Or at least one the rest of baseball considers major league.

John Lake

A. As we have pointed out in this space in the past, it is interesting that the Jays, beginning with Jimy Williams in 1986, have had nine different managers and only one of those, Jim Fregosi in 1999-2000 had previous MLB managerial experience. That chronology of Jays managers over the past 28 years includes: Williams; Gaston; Mel Queen; Tim Johnson; Fregosi; Buck Martinez; Carlos Tosca; John Gibbons and Farrell. Jimy W. and Farrell went on to manage elsewhere. The seven others not so much. Gaston was a finalist for the White Sox job when Ozzie Guillen was hired. Farrell always had had the Red Sox job in mind and vice-versa after his two seasons with the Jays. But none of the others has had a serious look from anyone else. Now, there is nothing wrong with hiring first-time managers, but the fact that nobody else has hired guys on this list after they leave the Jays is somewhat of an indictment of Toronto’s managerial search process. Oh, and by the way, the “beer league” you refer to for Gibbons was Double-A San Antonio Missions of the Texas League, a Padres’ affiliate in Gibby’s hometown.

Q-Hello,

I just caught The Ray’s hidden ball trick against The Dodgers. This is an uber rare play, so all other teams can be forgiven for not doing this in the last five years or so since it last happened. But it got me thinking about teams/players whose heads are (or are not) 100 per cent focused on the game. I do not think that it is a coincidence that a Joe Maddon team pulled this off — whether or not he actually called the play. To me it speaks about a collective mindset of a team, and it seems to me that said mindset is not as razor sharp within the Blue Jays clubhouse.

I believe Ron Gardenhire is managing without a contract right now. What are your thoughts on the Jays going after him? I realize the Twins are not tearing up the league this year, but the Twins don’t seem to have the horses this year — and after 12 years on the job, tuning out the manager to some degree is inevitable. Now John Gibbons seems like a heckuva nice guy, and blaming the field manager is always the easiest thing to do. And, true, there have been some injuries, and half the team seems to be performing under career norms, and that perhaps there’s a lack of leadership in the clubhouse from a player perspective, and the core of the team being away for WBC in spring training wasn’t ideal — but we’re not dealing with a small sample size. This is Mr. Gibbons second go-around. And there’s got to be a reason why he didn’t get another sniff as an MLB manager after his first Blue Jay stint. And not to be overlooked is that he wasn’t even thinking about managing in the big leagues again. If the reports are true, AA basically dropped the offer to manage this team on his very unsuspecting lap. To me, that’s not how you look for a field general.

Cheers,

Adam — Barrie, On.

A. Much of what you point out makes sense. In terms of the hidden ball trick, the problem I see is the annoying modern trend of throwing a baseball out of play after almost every batted ball put in play, after every pitch in the dirt. It’s tough to pull off a hidden ball trick when players are ready to throw the ball out of play as soon as a play is over. It’s tough to have a hidden live ball in play when players on defence are constantly throwing their arms in the air and calling time out as soon as opposition runners reach their bases. The classic hidden ball of old many times started with an infielder going over to talk to his pitcher and being slipped the baseball as they pow-wowed. He would return to his occupied base with the ball hidden in his glove while the pitcher stood behind the mound and pretended to rub an imaginary ball in his own glove. This would all be without timeout ever having been called. The runner would step off the base to measure a lead, or just because he did and the fielder would tag him.

As for the Jays underachieving 2013 season, no excuses. Every MLB team has had injuries and the Yankees and Red Sox have been among the hardest hit. That’s not an excuse. The WBC affected many teams the same way and spring training was extended because of the tournament. That’s not an excuse. When J.P. Ricciardi offered John Gibbons an extension after the ’07 season he suggested that if Gibby left the Jays there would be 6-7 teams lined up to offer him a managerial position. But the reality was that in the five years after Gibbons was fired by the Jays, nobody offered him a manager’s job. When he flew to Toronto to meet Anthopoulos in November he believed it was to interview for bench coach, that maybe the GM was going to hire another first-timer and Gibby could help out. The Jays might have been better off if that had actually been the scenario, but AA’s comfort level with Gibbons was the key factor after the prickly professional relationship the young GM had with Farrell. Bad reason.

Q. Hi Richard

In a recent letter to you regarding AA you replied in part “Since Pat Gillick, the Jays have never had a GM move on from Toronto to become a GM elsewhere, nor have any of their top assistants or farm directors. Tony LaCava is reported to have turned down an offer from the Orioles two winters ago, staying with the Jays because he wanted to finish the job here.” Would you not agree that this is a serious indictment of Blue Jays management. If other teams in baseball have such a low opinion of Blue Jays hires and obviously the way they run their organization then it shouldn’t surprise anyone why they have been mired in the basement and out of the playoffs for so long. Is it not time for a major managerial rethink in Blue Jays land? With all due respect to Paul Beeston but if Stan Kasten had been hired as president I think things would be very different in Blue Jays land.

Stan

A. One thing that was of primary importance to the Blue Jays organization following all the woes of the Paul Godfrey-J.P. Ricciardi era was to re-establish respect, trust and goodwill within the community of Jays fans and ticket holders and to spread affection and loyalty for the Blue Jays brand across the country. With Beeston, who had previous experience and success in these vital areas, it has been mission accomplished. Ticket sales are up. Sales of Jays’ gear, the jerseys, the caps, the logo are up. The broadcast revenues and various platforms of new media are up. The only thing that is down is the performance on the field. That needs to be corrected if goodwill is to be maintained. Stan Kasten would have been a good hire as CEO, but there are always plenty of good hires. There is never just one person that can make it work. Beeston needs to run the Jays’ show with a firmer hand even in terms of baseball decisions. For instance when AA last November walked into his office and said, “What would you think of hiring John Gibbons as manager,” instead of picking himself up off the floor and saying, “Alex, if you think that’s the best idea, go ahead” the president should have said, “Are you out of your mind? Hire him as a bench coach or senior adviser, but let’s bring in a manager with a track record.”

Q. Hi Richard,

I really liked your explanation to the question about why left-handed throwing infielders have a disadvantage playing these positions. I really hadn’t noticed this rarity. Are there currently any major league lefties throwers playing the infield? Another odd combination seems to be right-handed batters that are left-handed throwers. The last really good player with this combination that I can remember was Ricky Henderson. Why do you think this combination is so rare? As always, love your work.

Charles Adam, Manitoulin Island

A. There are no left-handed throwers at 2B, 3B and SS in the major leagues. The only one in 40 years of watching MLB that I can recall is Terry Francona with the Expos on Oct. 5, 1985. Hubie Brooks started the game at Shea Stadium at shortstop with Fred Manrique at third base. In the fourth inning Razor Shines pinch ran for Brooks and was going to play third base. He was picked off first base and caught in a rundown, pulled something and had to leave the game. Tito was called upon in an emergency third with Manrique moving over to shortstop. Francona handled groundballs from Larry Bowa, John Christensen and Ray Knight flawlessly, but never played the position again.

As for left-handed throwers who are right-handed hitters, yes, Henderson is the most famous. I recall Hal Breeden a hard-hitting first baseman with the Expos as another. There seem to be a lot more pitchers that do or did, but here are some B-R T-L position players of note: Cody Ross, Ryan Ludwick, Mark Carreon, Cleon Jones, Hal Chase and Jason Lane.

Q. Hello again from Japan, Richard. Here’s a possible question for your mailbag:

Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka just set a new NPB record with his 16th straight win from the start of the season. He’s 16-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 19 starts and has not allowed a run in his last five outings. Ma-kun is doing things that no pitcher has ever done over here — not Darvish, Kuroda, Iwakuma, Nomo, Daisuke . . . no one. He has a chance at a perfect season.

Teams like the Yanks, Rangers and Angels have scouts following Tanaka’s every move. The Jays? Nobody. Tanaka is only 25 years old and will likely be available for posting at season’s end. His fastball tops out at 96 mph and his slider is thought to be the best in Japan. He certainly looks like an ideal MLB prospect. My question is, why don’t the Jays pay more serious attention to top-flight players in Japan like Tanaka? (I don’t mean backup players like Kawasaki. I mean front-line stars). Players like this could seriously help them.

Sincerely,

Mike DeJong, Tokyo, Japan

A. Tanaka has been scouted by the Jays, but apparently the expected money that it would require to sign him has made them less enthusiastic about the prospects of competing in any posting process. Japan is being scouted by the Jays all the time, but maybe not with as high a profile as when Darvish was the prize. The Jays were burned by that experience, first for being praised when they were seen as so highly interested, then being criticized by fans for not signing him. The Asian profile is now low.

Five members of the Blue Jays went to this year’s all-star game. That is surely evidence of the some of the talent on this team. Colby Rasmus and Brett Lawrie can’t be far off. Like you, I’ve watched a lot of baseball and this team is bad. Poor starting pitching and poor defence is the norm.

Players who have played their entire lives; are making defensive errors that don’t make sense. I hope it is a result of trying hard to pick each other up or is frustration the cause? The A’s make three errors and it’s infield practice the next day?? I think you’re right, playing on grass at home is one of the intangible improvements moving forward. Can’t understand such poor play from such a talented group.

Thanks for any insight.

Dave Van Norman

A. I don’t think that anyone can say that just because there were five Jays at the all-star game that it means it is a good Jays team. John Gibbons was the choice of manager Jim Leyland as one of his coaches because he was happy that Gibby was given another chance to manage. Steve Delabar was the last man voted in with unlimited online voting. Bautista was a late surge in fan voting for a starting spot. Encarnacion was runner-up in player voting at DH. Brett Cecil was a Leyland pick. I think that Lawrie and Jose Reyes are more likely than Rasmus to be the next Jays players to an all-star team.

This current Jays infield with EE, Kawasaki, Reyes and Lawrie is the best the Jays have had on the field all season and it’s no coincidence in my mind that the Jays won the final two games of the Boston series with that infield alignment, despite pitching matchups that looked like mismatches.

Q. Hi, Rich,

Lately, it has been the hot topic of speculation whether John Gibbons will/should/must take the “fall” for the Jays’ 2013 mess. Thinking about it recently (while tending to my infant son in the wee hours of the morning), I actually believe that there is a larger question to be asked. That is, if/when Gibbons gets fired, will AA be shown the door with him? My line of thinking is that AA stuck his neck out in bringing back Gibbons, making him “his guy” and invariably hitching their wagons together.

If Jays’ upper management (Beeston) and ownership believe Gibbons is not the right guy, then doesn’t it follow that AA must take the fall with him? Indeed, you alluded to as much in your recent post on thestar.com (in regards to Farrell) where you stated that AA’s attitude was that the manager would simply need to write in the lineup and call it a day. Clearly, that hasn’t worked out. So isn’t it just as much the fault of the GM as it is the fault of the manager? I am thinking that, while there will no doubt be “tweaks” made to the roster this offseason, the true dismantling/housecleaning will occur with the GM and manager both being ousted and the ushering in of some battle-hardened veterans in their places. (Like maybe Mike Scioscia for manager if he is fired by the Angels?)

Love the mailbag.

Corey Perrin

Fredericton

A. My belief is that Alex Anthopoulos will be given the full three years that he sold to ownership as his vision of the Blue Jays competing and being sustainable contenders. Look at it this way. You don’t pinch-hit for a hitter that you may have doubts about after strike one of an at-bat, no matter how bad that first swing looks. Anthopoulos is young and hopefully is learning and will adjust.

I don’t believe that Paul Beeston will take that easy way out and make AA the scapegoat for this season. Beeston is about more than just the playing personnel on the field. He can look around the ballpark and see fans in the seats as the result of the off-season hype, no matter how disappointing the season has turned out. Ownership now realizes that there is a large and enthusiastic fanbase and that they are not as old and decrepit as the cliche about baseball would have us believe. The young fanbase has a certain swag and wear all the swag and dominate ballparks on the road. Now they need a winner.

The other thing about the Beeston-Anthopoulos relationship is that Beeston is at fault for not providing the paternal leadership to his handpicked GM. Anthopoulos has replaced Pat Gillick as Beeston’s sidekick in what he has always maintained is the best job in the world, but he is not Pat Gillick. That being said, Beeston has constantly deferred to AA in baseball decisions, most especially in the re-hiring of John Gibbons as the anti-John Farrell. Beeston now knows he should have stepped in and said “Hire Gibby for something, but not to be our manager.” That is why I believe that AA and Gibby will not be linked if it comes to making changes. Beeston knows he could have prevented the hire, but everyone believed that with the off-season acquisitions the roster could win no matter who was in charge.

Q. Well, Rich,

I cheered when AA got these guys and got cramps when the rotation went south, but it doesn’t seem to me that we’re that far away. Second seems a key. Who knew that Izturis was over the hill that much? Not AA, not anybody. A substantial journeyman all of a sudden got old. With a limited range at short and fill-in for 50 games at third, the pitching staff was in trouble even before injuries.

So: Who’s available? Let’s get next year organized.

Peter Thomson

Elizabeth City N.C.

A. This is not an official list, but just using Cot’s Baseball Contracts website here are some second basemen that could be free agents: Robinson Cano; Brian Roberts; Ramon Santiago; Omar Infante, Kelly Johnson, Placido Polanco and a bunch of shortstops that may be able to play second base.

As for Maicer Izturis and who knew? It seems like the Angels did and every other team that did not make him a $10 million guaranteed offer for three years.

Q. Hello Richard,

You never know what you will see when you head out to the ballpark. Just the other night I was walking home from the Rogers Centre after attending a Jays game when I came across a rookie Toronto police officer; he was pulling a dead cow by its tail and dragging it along Roncesvalles Ave. He was sweating profusely and he looked exhausted. It was a very strange sight to say the least, so I asked him “What was going on?” He seemed flustered and told me that he was walking his beat when he came across this dead cow lying right in the middle of the street and when he started to write up his report he realized he did not know how to spell “Roncesvalles” . . . So he decided to move the cow over to King Street!

Go Jays Go!

Fred from Toronto

A I agree 100 per cent. I wish I had thought of that strategy with spelling Rzepczynski.

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